MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

9/19 Baez to miss AFL

Cubs top prospect Javier Baez will not play in the Arizona Fall League, general manager Jed Hoyer said Thursday, so the shortstop can rest for the 2014 season.

“He’s emotionally and physically drained after the season,” Hoyer said. “We have no problem with [him missing the AFL].”

Baez was one of four Cubs prospects headed to the Arizona Fall League, and would have joined this year’s first-round pick Kris Bryant, outfielder Albert Almora, who was the No. 1 selection in 2012, and Cuban outfielder Jorge Soler on the Mesa Solar Sox.

Almora and Soler both missed time in the Minor Leagues this year because of injury, while Baez started at Class A Daytona and moved up to Double-A Tennessee. The 20-year-old shortstop was named the Cubs’ Minor League Player of the Year after batting .282 with 37 home runs and 111 RBIs in 130 games in his second pro season. He will be honored on Saturday at Wrigley Field along with Kyle Hendricks, who was named Minor League Pitcher of the Year.

“The last thing we want him to do is go there and risk injury,” Hoyer said. “He had a full season, he had a great season, and I feel we’ll see him in Arizona working out.”

Are you kidding me????!! This kid was supposed to be a liability at ss and get moved right away. Just him being able to stay at ss and even change scouts minds about him staying at ss is a great season. Defense is overrated and errors in the minors mean very little. See Darwin Barney…… I would rather have Baez offense then Barney’s defense…..

You’re not kidding anybody are you jhosk? Who couldn’t understand your comment? I guess next time make sure to check with HWSRN before posting…isn’t that what is required now? If not we must send apologies i.e. another post…. for such brilliant, “going out on the limb” predictions such as the Cubs suffering 95+ losses. Duh. A regular Carnack The Great this guy is….only eerily and VAINLY vile. Nonetheless who can argue with you jhosk regarding Baez’s defense? I too hope (and positively think) he will indeed work on his defense during the offseason regardless of him not playing in the AFL and be much better next season. Have a great day jhosk!

How’s that crow taste? Or could u not eat it with that huge foot in Ur mouth? Keep chirping buddy BC with every post u look like a long winded ignorant prick trying to take over a blog and u so obviously know very lil about… keep it up Ur doing a good job of proving my points

Jhosk, are the only points involving HWSRN at the end of the horns protruding from his forehead? What gives with this guy and the language, vileness, bitterness and hatred? Words like that should be THE ONE criteria from banishment on this blog. NOBODY else uses such language, it is un called for and should be addressed.

Oh yeah….I predict the Cubs won’t get to the playoffs next season, may or may not have Sveum for a manager, may or may not have Deer as a hitting coach, may trade any of the current roster, may get rained out, may have a losing record and will have spring training in the state of Arizona. I know it’s risky and going out on a limb making these bold predictions but hey sometimes one must roll the dice. DUH. (I apologize for the lack of cuss words which may make it harder for some…no, one to understand the comment. Like a foreign language.)

Recently stated by Brandon Hyde, minor League Player Development; (Hyde said he’s not just impressed by Baez’s power but also his baserunning and defense. The errors he made were mainly because the shortstop tried to do too much, Hyde said.)

I think sometimes someone says something on here and others just believe it, instead of actually reading and understanding.

Then guys like Petrey, myself get kinda frustrated. Is that an excuse for his language, nope! Is that an excuse for me going off on Diamondjim, nope!

I prefer to give Baez the benefit of the doubt on defense, after all he is not playing in Major League Parks and as Brandon Hyde stated, he is just trying to do to much. This guy is hungary for the Majors, thats a good thing.

You going “off” on Diamondjim pales in comparison to the words used by..by…by..I can’t speak his name in fear of opening the gates of hell but you know what I mean. Jasper, you manage to convey your FRUSTRATION with other commentators such as Diamondjim and even myself (It’s been obvious at times you have little patience for my comments) by retaining civility and refrain from vulgar and offensive LANGUAGE, and that my fellow fan is respectable. After all it’s just some FRUSTRATION. As far as Baez, he being a professional for such a short period of time, who wouldn’t give him the benefit of the doubt regarding his defense? Hell, I think Castro still deserves the benefit of the doubt for his questionable defense as he too (although a 3 year ML “veteran”) has had only a short time as a professional ball player and is still very young. Plenty of time for both players to improve their defense dramatically. If mature enough one can easily handle “blog FRUSTRATION” without going off on a verbal abuse parade against fellow commentators….IF MATURE ENOUGH….that is.

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